Preston University Dissertations

A few Ph.D. dissertations from Preston University:

www.preston.edu/dissertation.html

 

I took the liberty of skimming through a couple of the dissertations. A couple were fairly well written. It's too bad these students didn't pick a RA school to prepare this research.

 

Based on the issues of cost and utility, perhaps the Preston doctorate has met the need of a small group of degree holders.

 

Someone fill me in on this...

Is it customary to use double-spacing to increase the page count of a dissertation? I looked at several of the pdfs and was quite amused. I thought the practice was confined to junior high school.

 

Actually you are correct. The double-spacing will definitely add to the page count. I'm glad you noticed this. I failed to make this observation when I was reviewing the dissertations. Thanks!

 

Double spacing as a university format requirement for dissertations is not unusual. If you look at disses which have been reproduced photographically and published, usually they are double spaced. It's not millish (though it seems wasteful to me, too).

 

Yes, it is customary to use double spacing. Double spacing is required if you are using American Psychology Association (APA) style. Abstract and acknowledgement pages are single-spaced. There are other APA requirements for tables, reference lists and TOC. I am not suggesting that Preston dissertations follow APA style because they do not.

 

No, it is not a millish practice. I have seen a few older dissertations which were written in a single-space format, however, most all were double-spaced. Having read dissertations from Duke, Union Seminary, Erskine Seminary, Drew Seminary, etc... (all RA/ATS), all were double-spaced.

Actually, many of the mills allow for triple-spacing.

 

As Ike stated, it is standard practice to use double-spacing. I was required to use APA style in graduate school, so all my papers were double-spaced.


Bruce

 

It's sad to see people put so much time and effort into a degree that will be worthless.

 

Turabian, 5th ed, "The text should be double spaced." (p247).

This manual is used for to term papers, theses, dissertations, and my UZ Promoter has not complained.

 

Yes Bill,
Thanks for pointing this out. I forgot about Turabian!

 

Good information, guys. As someone who has not written an academic paper in years, the double-spacing and large fonts used just looked 'unprofessional' to me. I stand corrected. I'll leave the qualitative discussion of the dissertations to someone else who is interested in reading one or two.

 

double spacing...1 1/2 inch left margin...and 1 inch margin top, bottom and right. APA guidelines require this. I have not seen any recent dissertations that were not double spaced!

 

Obcve: "double spacing...1 1/2 inch left margin...and 1 inch margin top, bottom and right. APA guidelines require this. I have not seen any recent dissertations that were not double spaced!"

Cehi: I totally agree. The Forms and Styles relating to preliminary pages, body of the manuscript, references, appendix, writing style, typefaces, type sizes, margins, headings, page numbering, tables and figures, footnotes, and double spacing are all part of the APA styled dissertations. Some institutions also may require that you submit written proof that your manuscript was proofread by an approved source(s) such as editors, english teachers, etc., to make sure that grammar issues are in order.

 

Roy: "I took the liberty of skimming through a couple of the dissertations. A couple were fairly well written. It's too bad these students didn't pick a RA school to prepare this research."

Cehi: Indeed. Some of the dissertations actually followed the standard norm. Although, I did not see any approval pages (maybe they are not needed for inclusions in the online samples). It looked like the students put in a lot of work in their dissertations by attempting to provide new knowledge in their fields.